YEP Letters: February 8

Well said DS Boyes (YEP Letters January 30) when you say bin collections are destined to move to a lesser collection cycle than the current bi-weekly.

Whatever your bet is I’ll match it because Leeds City Council (LCC) cannot possibly do what they say without reducing the collection cycle. Furthermore, to do so will undoubtedly create health issues for residents because of mounting rubbish coupled with a likely increase in vermin activity etc. The bin men work well but their enhanced workload will possibly cause them unnecessary illness, or resignations, due to their stress levels through the inability to “keep up” with collection demands set by their LCC employers.

LCC appear to be extremely decisive at getting some things absolutely right i.e. continuing financial increases for households and motorists, providing a lower standard of services, coming up with unnecessary schemes which benefit the minority and wasting much needed finance at every given opportunity, finance which could be spent on more needy projects.

The bin collection service, not the operatives, will deteriorate irrespective of what LCC would have residents believe.

Get a grip on food hygiene standards

Dr Michael Lowry, by email

Some 2,651 food businesses in the county (that is in Yorkshire alone) - more than 15 per cent of the total - have scores of three or less out of five in the Food Standards Agency’s hygiene ratings (YEP February 6).

Whilst there are fears this will affect those businesses with lower ratings, surely this is the very least that we can expect in order that those falling below standard should be forced to improve.

Food handling hygiene ought to be scrupulous in every case, and it is unacceptable for consumers to have to be served by people who have inadequate understanding of basic hygiene, or who choose to ignore this. Touching face or hair, coughing over food, or coughing into a hand then handling food are not unknown.

We wouldn’t accept a low standard of hygiene from, for example, a surgeon, so should expect the same high standard of hygiene from food handlers.

In addition, those who safeguard hygiene standards on behalf of consumers should carry out frequent unannounced checks on food-related business, and close down any found to be failing: no ifs or buts, but closed and that is that until they demonstrate satisfactory standards.

I recently approached the people responsible for food hygiene in Leeds, over concerns re staff at a chip shop who felt it acceptable to handle the inside of chip bags or placed hands over food as they wrapped it with hands that had been handling money.

The person to whom I spoke at the Environmental Health Department in Leeds simply laughed this off and said the chip shop staff must have been putting on a show when they were assessed for their food hygiene rating (of four out of five by the way). Get a grip: if food businesses are cavalier about cleanliness, then they deserve to be named and shamed, or closed immediately.

Higher prices in the shops

N Bywater, Morley

In the news last week was the Bank of England’s report on inflation and growth. The media choose to run with a story about a two per cent growth of the UK economy.

Whilst the real story was that inflation could outstrip wage increases in 2017. Which will mean, that people will become poorer.

At the moment wages and inflation are level pegging at 1.6 per cent, but because of the lower value of Sterling, inflation is expected to increase to above two per cent.

So the vote to leave the EU has triggered a number of factors that will negatively impact on peoples lives.

After the stock market crash came the lowering of interest rates and the crash of Sterling, these events are leading to higher prices in the shops.

We know what we voted for

Philip Marsden, by email

in response to all the Brexit remainers writing in your paper I would like to say that they do not know why I and other leavers voted.

They also do not know that many of those voting to leave did not vote for a hard brexit. They should stop asserting that leavers do not know why they voted to leave, implying that leavers are stupid.

I am certain that when I voted to leave I knew that it meant coming out of the single market as I knew full well that the Eurocrats would not allow Britain to be in the single market without being a paid-up member.

Why the remainers should think that I (and others) cannot work this out, and that only they can work it out is a mystery.

Perhaps they think that remainers are superior in intellect?

Work together against terror

K E Coates, Garforth

GOOD on Donald Trump for doing what he said he would, that is why he was voted in.

And good on Theresa May for doing her job and doing what the British people voted for once, out of the EU.

We should be able to vet the people wanting to come into this country, and not have an official EU quota to legally allow in. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were of course responsible for this whilst in office, these two have a lot to answer for.

The west has been too soft for far too long on immigration hopefully this will change in the near future.

I often wonder why Russia has not got a problem with immigration and terrorist bombings etc, is it because they know better than to try to enter Russia, no freebies there.

The people who are demonstrating against Brexit and Donald Trump need to get real, and to accept we live in a dangerous world, more so than ever.

Let the people in charge get on with the job of keeping us all safe and maybe one day terrorism will be defeated.

We all need to work together to make this possible.

Proud of war medal honour

G Speight, Leeds 13

ON 12 December 2016 there was a short article in your paper regarding the veteran who had been awarded the Legion D’Honneur by the French government for his action and work in the battle of Normandy 1944 etc.

I too received this medal in October 2016 - I am very proud to receive this medal but I find it difficult to understand why when the real heroes of that time appear to have received nothing, unless of course they are still alive.

I know that in all situations it is the luck of the draw, of being in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time.I was the driver of a wagon carrying a mobile searchlight, 12 men and all equipment (quite a wagon full). We landed at Arromanches four to five weeks after D Day.

We moved about Normandy and elsewhere, never staying much longer than seven days in any place. I did what I had to do, obeyed orders as we had to do. But nothing heroic as I know of. As the other veteran said: “I look on this medal as an honour to all who took part.” When I told my French friends (a family I met in 1944 and remain friends to this day) of this medal, they thought I was joking.

Justification for extra bins?

Robert Holman, Leeds 28

ONCE again we have another increase in council tax.

Can anyone justify why the largest group of property owners in the country (wealthy student landlords) pay no council tax or business rates for all the extra bins they have? And services. Why should we have to pay extra to cover this shortfall since the introduction of the wheelie bins in 1993.

Many have over 100 zero rated houses and pay nothing at all!

Finding old shipmates

Mike Crowe, by email

Thank you again newspapers like this one for printing my letters about reuniting those who have served together in the Royal Navy.

Many are missing the camaraderie of those who served in the Royal Navy, such as the eight already found from H.M.S. Raleigh; 23 Entry Benbow Division, 2nd June 1980. Many say ‘I wish I could relive some of it’; well this can be done in the form of an ‘RN Shipmates Reunion’ to be held over the weekend of Friday April 21 to Monday 24 in the Midlands.